Our first visitors.....

Our first visitors, R's family, pulled into town the last week of July, 2006. We covered lots of ground during their two week visit, but since R was out on the ship for pre-deployment stuff and since it turned out to be the 2nd hottest July on record, we spent quite a bit of time in the pool their first few days here!

Then our first really big event.......

they got to see R's ship for the first time from Pt. Loma as it pulled into the bay!!

With R back, we hit the ground running with trips to........

Joshua Tree National Park.....

the zoo.....

the beaches at Coronado and La Jolla......

the Maritime Museum........

and, of course, aboard R's ship, the USS Dubuque!!

And believe it or not, we still found time to take the Hornblower Bay Tour...........

Eat fish tacos and churros at Rubio's.....

and even go to IKEA!!!

RE: purchases made with 5 people in the car,

"That's all fine and dandy, but now how do we get it all home??"

ANSWER: very carefully!!!

It was a packed two weeks, but we had a great time on our adventures!!

Substitute Teaching

While Rodney was going to the ship every day, I took the opportunity to take my time getting boxes unpacked and things settled around the house. Then I pursued getting my paperwork together to see what I could do about a teaching job. Having an out-of-state teaching certificate, I was able to automatically get a one-year CA credential. I went ahead and took the state test and received my full credential. After applying to the local district of over 40 elementary schools and realizing they were in dire need of subs, I decided to try that for a bit. That would give me a chance to experience different schools and find one that would be a good fit for me. That has been the best experience! I don't really miss lesson plans, grade cards, faculty meetings, parent conferences, etc., but there are times I do miss having my own classroom and my own group of students.



The flexibility of subbing has been worth its weight in gold........ Christmas of 2006, R was deployed, so I was able to go back to MO for almost a month; then March, 2007, I was able to go see him in Singapore for a week (pics in another post)!! When Grandpa got sick, November 2007, I was able to be there, then stay with Grandma for a few days after he passed away.



Those are big advantages to subbing, but the smaller day-to-day advantages are if R has a day off, we can spend time together and, I do have to admit, its kind of nice to be able to do lunch with friends once in awhile on a week day! It still keeps me pretty much as busy as I want to be and at that time gave me something to do since he was gone a lot with the ship while they were preparing to deploy.......

A new life in San Diego....

After being residents of Residence Inn for three weeks, we moved into our new place mid-January, 2006. Never dreamt we would live in a half-million dollar home........and its ATTACHED living!!! (We're only renting and thanking God for housing allowance!!) Also, to this day there are times I drive down the palmtree-lined roads and find myself amazed----I never dreamt I would ever live in Southern California!!

Here are a few shots of our townhome/condo......3 BR, 2 1/2 BA, 2 car garage........

Go west, Young Man.....and Woman.....and Dog...

Our three-day journey west began December 23, 2005. Truman had a rough time, can't you tell?? NOT!!

Since we spent Christmas Eve on the road, we had our little tree that R's mom made for us and the Precious Moments Nativity set that his sister had given him to give our hotel room a touch of Christmas!

We spent Christmas Day at Saguaro National Park.

December 26, we made a stop in Yuma, Arizona.Looks like I was running with a rough crowd!

That evening, we pulled into San Diego and the next morning, R reported to Naval Base San Diego for his first US Navy duty station---the USS Dubuque......

Chaplain Training School

September, 2005, R was commissioned as a Naval Officer at the Joint Reserve Base in Ft. Worth. About a month later, on a mid-morning in early October, R set off with his new friend Dennis and made a straight-through drive from Waco to Newport, Rhode Island for 2 1/2 months of Chaplain Training. When they left, we had orders for Kingsbay, Georgia; but while in school, those orders changed and changed again and again........we went through 5 sets of orders before our final destination was determined!!

Yes, there were only FOUR in their class!!

(R is on the far right; Dennis is next to him.)

I was able to take a trip to Newport for their graduation!

We flew back to TX together and began our last couple of weeks of life in Texas. The packers came, the movers came, we loaded our most prized possessions in the car and little u-haul trailer and made the 3-day drive to our first Navy home-----SAN DIEGO!!

The Beginning

It is said the best place to start is at the beginning, so..... I guess the beginning of our story would be May 16, 1997---our Wedding Day at Glenstone Baptist Church, Springfield, Missouri.

I won't go into the details of our lives as newlyweds when R was Minister to Students (children and youth) at Temple Baptist Church in Springfield and I was teaching 1st grade in nearby Clever.

Nor will I go into the details of our change of address in 2001 from Springfield to Waco, Texas, when R went back to school to get his Master of Divinity from Truett Seminary (part of Baylor University) while I taught Pre-K.

The story I do want to tell begins in Fall 2005, when we said "Anchors Aweigh" and began a new life in the Navy!